FUNERAL OF MADAME SULLIVAN.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 5017, 27 May 1889, Page 3

FUNERAL OF MADAME SULLIVAN.

The mortal remains of Madame Sullivan, the respected religieuse of the Sacred Heart and the beloved Principal of the Catholic parochial girls’ school, were interred this morning in the small burial ground attached to the Convent, wherein sleep two other sisters of the Order, who have preceded Madame Sullivan to “ that bourne whence no traveller returns.” Two masses were said at earlier hours this morning, and at 9 30 was com* menced the Solemn Eequiem Mass, in one of the large rooms of the Convent, by His Lordship the Bishop of the Diocese, assisted by Eev. Fathers Foley and Binsfeld of Timaru ; Fauvel of Temuka; Eegnault of Waimate ; and Father Aubrey the Bishop’s chaplain. The room and entrance hall were crowded with mourners, and many stood outside unable to get in. His Lordship preached, from I Corinthians xv., 63, 64, so touching a funeral sermon that at times, and many times, there was not a dry eye in the building. Ho dwelt on the uncertainty of life, as instanced by the case of the deceased sister, who, a few months ago when ha last visited Timaru, was a picture of robust health. Personally he claimed to feel as great grief as any one of those who had most nearly associated with tho deceased lady, yet his grief was assuaged by the knowledge that she had been removed to a brighter sphere. He mentioned that Madame Sullivan took tho vows of the Order of the Sacred Heart when eighteen years of age, consequently she had been devoted to the work of the church for twentyfive years. Before she came to Now Zealand in 1830 she was principal of tho largest parochial school in Chicago, which numbered 11000 children, and those who had known I Madam Sullivan here need not be told • how deeply her American pupils felt her departure. His Lordship visited Chicago before coming to New Zealand and heard much of the excellent toucher they had lost j but he was hardly prepared to find, as he did when he came to know her personally, what a thoroughly devoted woman she was. He forgot tho school and tho teacher in admiration of her os a devoted religieuse. Her feeling of duty towards tho children seemed, to overpower every other motive, and she seemed to be, and was, a mother in God to them. It must have been to her a groat sacrifice to leave so many children and friends in Chicago to come to New Zealand. Her pious love for her pupils betrayed her into no weakness, but gave her strength to lead them into the paths of right. Her control over them was even wonderful, but it was a loving control. Their obedience to her whs evidently a delight to them. Her death was not expected but death found her not unprepared, yet ha asked that all should pray for her, as she would herself have asked if she could have spoken. Tho solemn Absolution having been recited over the coffin, the procession to the grave was then formed. Tho parochial school children with the Rev. Father Eegnault at the head, the boys first, then the girls, led tho way, next came tho pupils of the Convent, in two files, dressed in black and weaving white veils,with the sisters the Sacred Heart between

them. Next the coffin, in white, borne by eight old residents—Messrs Swan, Delaney, O’Shea, O’Bryan, O’Driscoll, N._ Murphy, and Dillon—followed by tho Bight Rev. Bishop and the other Eev. Fathers, and then by the general body of attendants. Tho cortege made a circuit of the convent buildings, while the bell of the church lolled mournfully, and a few yards away the organised procession filed into an orderly array about the burial ground. The last offices were recited amid tears and tho audible sobs of many, and the solemn and impressive ceremony terminated about half past eleven.